In many cases, the maximum taxi speed is governed by the individual company's ops manual. I know of one that calls for taxi speeds not to exceed that of a "brisk walk". Actually limiting taxi speeds to a "brisk walk", of course, would grind things to a halt at congested airports...so in reality, the limitation is largely ignored for the sake of operational efficiency.

As 2H4 pointed out, the literal wording is "taxi no faster than a man can walk," however in reality you will hold up the show if you taxi that slow There's some give and take, but should you taxi too fast and cause an accident during a ground movement by taxiing too quickly, well, that's your ticket and your pride that are on the line

I suppose with GPS you can actually gauge your groundspeed these days, however the airspeed indicator will always read "0" (except when taxiing into a strong headwind ). I remember one night landing at TTD (Troutdale, OR) with a very strong wind straight down the runway. After an incredibly short landing (we made the first taxiway exit ), the airspeed in the 172 was reading 40 knots...and taxiing back was a royal pain in the rump because the plane wanted to weathervane into the wind (good time for remembering how to hold the controls while taxiing in a strong wind!).

Generally, you'll find most companies limit taxi speed on long straight taxiways to between 20-25 knots. I do know of some airlines who monitor excessive taxi speeds and use the DFDR to ensure compliance.

On the 744/747 90 degree turns with full tiller are limited to 10 knots.

Generally considered to be approx 4MPH or 6.4KPH.
DOM2 at SYD to holding point T6 RWY 34R is approx 4.5KM, at walking pace would comprise 45min or so of a 1hr 25min block time(SYD-BNE), walking pace I don't think so!

I do understand how that walking speed restriction would (and likely should) apply in the ramp area though!

In many cases, the maximum taxi speed is governed by the individual company's ops manual. I know of one that calls for taxi speeds not to exceed that of a "brisk walk". Actually limiting taxi speeds to a "brisk walk", of course, would grind things to a halt at congested airports...so in reality, the limitation is largely ignored for the sake of operational efficiency.

maybe on the apron... out on the taxiways especially for a long taxi that would take forever! 3000m! I'd say most planes taxi around at about 25km/h (15mph) but often faster or if busy then slower.

I agree that the average speed limit is about 15-20mph. If u fly jetblue, the mapquest channel allows u to view that kind of stuff. Last time i flew Jetblue in August 2006, the taxi speed was 20mph if i recall correctly

"DO ME A FAVOR WOULD YA, THE NEXT TIME U LAND A PLANE ON MY STRIP, BONE UP ON YOUR MORSE CODE"-Tom Berenger

Its funny actually, as a student who is just a few hours from my checkflight, I commented to my instructor the other day that throughout the whole learning process, we never formally touched on 'taxi speed'.

He laughed and said it was one of those things where, really, you just kinda have to 'feel' it. On a ramp? Absolutely no faster than someone can walk... Taxi to the end of a 5200 foot active in a spam-can? you can be the tower appreciates maintaining a reasonably brisk clip...

I think the term 'Reasonable and Prudent' is probably the best descriptor of Taxi speed limits, for any aircraft.

Which airlines are really so anal about taxi speeds that they actually check the DFDR to ensure compliance?

It's not a matter of checking but the software in the DFDR will record an event and it's sent via ACARS and the DFDR is then analyized to see what the event was. I can think of several airlines that monitor taxi speed and virtually all airlines that have current generation aircraft have a Flight Data Analysis Program or a program extremely similar.

Quoting Blackbird (Reply 13):What airlines monitor taxi speeds? (Instinctively you'd figure people would have better things to do than monitor the taxi speed)

Andrea K

As I discretely tried to write, all airlines that have a FOQA, or some other program will monitor taxispeed. Even things like N1 are monitored while taxying. It's all electronic and requires no effort......

Which airlines are really so anal about taxi speeds that they actually check the DFDR to ensure compliance

More than you can imagine,if we think about many aviation accidents occur on the ground rather than in the air.Actually not only the taxi speeds but all stages of the flight is monitored by the "big brothers" and our training department issues memorandums about the mistakes.This is particularly useful against some pilots who constantly disobeys the SOP standards.

WestJet defines "walking speed" as 6km/h. Mind you, that usually applies to ground staff (ie. push-back) rather than the plane itself. Transport Canada regulations state that no vehicle an exceed 25km/h on the apron. Again, that may differ from aircraft movement regs.

I more accurately meant to say which airlines actually care a lot about taxi speeds, btw

Andrea Kent

If an airline has a FOQA (or similar) program they can set whatever threshold they want for excursions. For example, stabilized approaches are a big one. So, at my airline, an excursion is when you're below 1000' AGL, gear is not down, or flaps aren't in the landing position and EPR is not 1.01 or above. You will get a letter from the FOQA people asking if you can remember what happened on this flight and this date. In addition, you get a print out of about 3 minutes worth of data.

As far as what airlines care about taxi speed, I'd day all do. It's spelled out in the SOP. Perhaps WN and FR have higher taxi speeds in their SOP. It's not something that comes directly from the aircraft manufacturer.

So, PhilSquares, some airlines program in a lower threshold into the FOQA so that any speed which violates that restrictin will be logged and reported?

Obviously Southwest, Ryanair apparently have a very high threshold programmed in if any at all, or do not pay attention to it. Some airlines program in slower values and as a result pilots taxy slower to avoid getting in trouble correct?

Quoting Blackbird (Reply 26):So, PhilSquares, some airlines program in a lower threshold into the FOQA so that any speed which violates that restrictin will be logged and reported?

The airlines can put in any value they desire. If they don't want to monitor taxi speed, they don't have to. It's entirely up to the airline.

Remember, this is all done through the DFDR and ACARS. If there is an event threshold exceeded, ACARS will send the parameters and the DFDR will be downloaded at a later time. This doesn't require a lot of time and effort on the airline's part. The biggest deal is sanatizing the info so if it's published you can't trace who the crew was.

Quoting Blackbird (Reply 29):So, which airlines program in really low thresholds? I'm guessing here, but American, and Delta would probably be on the list eh?

In regards to which airlines don't program in thresholds, I'd say SWA and Ryannair would qualify eh?

To be honest, those programs and their thresholds are pretty confidential among all the airlines. Even within an airline it's not something the pilots are aware of. Their only duty is to comply with SOP, if they do that then nothing happens.

If it's confidential, and pilots don't know about it... and you're a 747 pilot, how do you know about it? :-P

Easy, I know people at other airlines who have been "debriefed" about their taxi speeds. For instance at SQ, stabilised approached are a very hot item. If you are slightly fast and stop at flaps 25, and then descend below 1000' and then select flaps 30, there will be an event reported for "late landing configuration". As a technique, especially with inexperienced pilots or during line training, I will tell them just to make the necessary adjustments for Vref and land with 25 flaps, which is an acceptable landing configuration. Then we'll debrief it on the ground. Although, I think the program has definite merits, in a situation such as I described, it really doesn't accomplish much. (my opinion only). I think a much better use for the program would to review the data and use it in recurrent simulator training.

If you're really bored in flight, you can go and see what the settings are for the FOQA program in the CMC reports. But, to be honest there are so many I just can't be bothered to remember them all. One I do know is a IVSI in excess of 600 fpm on landing, or a flare length of over 12 seconds (from idle stop to ground sensing).

My philosophy is if you fly the SOP, you won't get into any trouble at all. Has worked form me for over 30 years, no reason to change now.

Spotting at SDF in the middle of the night, I've noticed aircraft taxiing at a fair clip on the usually inactive diagonal runway. Since I would presume that active runways don't usually have a speed limit, would an inactive runway differ from a taxiway in that regard?

Last year I had to connect through FRA a few times and had time to kill while waiting for my flights. I noticed that not only taxi speed but also towing speed was substantially higher than what I am used to observe in the USA.

I remember an OO flight into LAX on an EM2 where we might have well landed on the taxiway. There were two company (UA) 747, and one company 777 behind us and we were told to exit 6/7 R/L asap. We landed, full stopping pwr and exited the runway doing at LEAST 90 - 100 knots.

"Why does a slight tax increase cost you $200 and a substantial tax cut save you 30 cents?"

Quoting NASOCEANA (Reply 37):I once heard that pilots would purposely slow taxi during contract neogations to more clearly get their points across to upper management.

This happened in Avianca some years ago when they were almost bankrupt and in the C-11. It was called "Operación Tortuga" ("Operation Turtle"). The Pilots would taxi really slow, take their full allowed time for lunch (in practice they used less than half) and stuff like that.

I gladly accept donations to pay for flight hours! This thing draws man...

I think WN takes the award for the quickest taxi time in this country, hands down. They taxi to/from gate as if there was no tomorrow. Not that its a bad thing. It would be cool to see a Ryanair vs. Southwest taxi race!

FOQA programs are easy to monitor. We have one in place at my current carrier. All information is de-identified for anonymity. If the company has a concern it goes to the union 'gatekeeper', who is able to identify the pilots involved. FOQA at my company is for safety, not for the purpose of harassing pilots. BTW, common sense rules at my carrier and in 40 years of operations I am not familiar with a single incident related to taxiing speeds.

Safety is one thing. Micromanagement from an office is something altogether different. Hire responsible pilots and train them properly and most of the reason for micromanagement is gone.

BTW, where I fly (NE US nowadays) taxi speed is not the issue. Since it is possible to move 0 feet in an hour at some the airports we go to (PHL and LGA come to mind.....) fuel conservation during taxi is a greater concern than speed.

At STN I've driven parallel to many a taxying aircraft, and on a long taxiway have seen aircraft (738, A319) doing at least 30mph. Never seen them doing much over that though, but it's way faster than any man could walk!

This may have something to do with idle power. It is frowned upon (and uncomfortable for pax) to ride the brakes so you want to go at idle power or whatever you need for the plane to move. Presumably different airliners have different speeds on idle.

In a Cessna 172S it is 15-16 knots. That's the speed I often end up taxiing at if there is a long straight because I don't want to ride the brakes. Definitely faster than a brisk walk.

"There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots."